Monthly Archives: January 2014

It has been a long while since my last post, but I have been away from home a lot lately. Occasionally, I have the opportunity to travel as part of my job and January saw me in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and very briefly in Beijing (China). Despite increasingly onerous restrictions on carry-on baggage, I managed to get my D700 and 24-70mm on the plane and catch a small slice of life in these two fascinating cities.

Possibly, the most memorable few hours of the trip were at Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur. The caves, about 13km from Kuala Lumpur are one of the most important Hindu shrines outside of India. My trip to KL happened to coincide with the Hindu festival ‘Thaipusam’. As part of the festival, a procession starts in KL city centre and walks to the caves, finally climbing the 272 steps leading up to the cave entrance.

Carrying kavadi

The main festival day was Friday, but I was not able to go to Batu Caves until Sunday. I caught the train out of the city not knowing quite what to expect when I arrived. Upon exiting the train, I immediately felt over-awed and entirely conspicous. The site was still very busy with pilgrims making their journey. I felt like an intruder as one of only a handful of ‘western’ people there, especially with a huge DSLR hanging by my side. However, I was determined to capture just a few images of the festival and share the story of the incredible festival.

Well, I’m still figuring out how WordPress works but it’s definitely time to start adding a little more content! Subject number one, is a small selection of waterfall images (let’s get the photography cliches all out the way early!) from a trip to the US North West way back in 2011!

If you haven’t been to that part of the world, I would highly recommend it. Olympic National Park, Cannon Beach, Mount Rainier & Hood River were our favourite spots, but I’m sure there are hundreds of other great locations for just heading out in your walking boots and seeing what you find. Of course, this was back in the day before we had a small child!

I was lucky enough to secure tickets to the men’s 100m at the 2012 Olympics in London. However, right up until the last minute I was unsure whether I would even be able to go. My wife was six days overdue with our first child on the day of the race. She felt OK, and so we decided to do it and drove down to London, jumped on the tube and went to the stadium.

Needless to say, it was an experience I will never forget. The energy in the stadium was incredible. An atmosphere like I’ve never felt before. This shot was taken just before the start. Everyone watching held their collective breath. Then, go. 9 and a bit seconds later, and Usain Bolt came home first.

Don’t worry folks, my wife safely delivered a baby boy four days later, although the doctors later concluded that her waters had broken on the day of the race, and that labour just hadn’t got going for some reason. For this, I am eternally grateful.